This (raw) screen cap shows the beginning of "The Man Fisher", a 3d adventure game in its very early state. It contains a small introduction into the controls and some game mechanics. Please note that this is a early work in progress and does not reflect the final game.

Does the Vignette effect change in realtime based on your health status? I tried that once and it ate a lot of FPS, since I did it in script only and it was calculated every frame. I could not do it in C++ so I gave up on having postFX change in realtime.

Are those rocks made in medusa?

Overall it looks coherent, but the sprinting speed is too much, just like in your old game, what speed are you using? 12? I use a sprint speed of 8 which translates to 28,8 kph, which is kind of an average running speed of a man and it is already optimistically calculated, since average running speed of humans is around 25kph.

I know some people do not like my nitpicking, but I'm curious how others design things, I often do actual tests and calculate the values I use based on real world data.

Does the Vignette effect change in realtime based on your health status? I tried that once and it ate a lot of FPS, since I did it in script only and it was calculated every frame. I could not do it in C++ so I gave up on having postFX change in realtime.

Yes, it's linked to the health via script. The effect amount (which are stored as $global) is only updated when the health script calls the function to fade in or out; this is done with steps that are timed via a schedule command rather than updating it on every frame. I'm not sure if you're using the same PostFx but if you'd like to have the function I use I can post it.

Are those rocks made in medusa?

The big cliff's models are indeed created in Medusa. If you spend some time with it you can eventually create some useful assets.
The other rocks are done "by hand" in 3ds max. For each model I mostly regard the amount of time needed to create it in-house. Some models (like the ships for example) are bought and mostly used as props for appearance. Buildings on the other hand are all made in-house, as the conversion to a useful in-game asset takes more time with purchased models than when you'd do it your self. The trick is to keep on thinking project-wise and not to fall into pride or such.

Overall it looks coherent, but the sprinting speed is too much, just like in your old game, what speed are you using? 12? I use a sprint speed of 8 which translates to 28,8 kph, which is kind of an average running speed of a man and it is already optimistically calculated, since average running speed of humans is around 25kph.

The maxSprintForwardSpeed is set to 9; That's not that much different from yours. Perhaps the FOV is different which may give the illusion of going faster when it's smaller. In this game sprinting is limited by a fast running out of energy; and mostly used as a mechanic for mission specific situations (like trying to outrun a wild dog). The map is not as big as in DM (which was 16km2 ) so walking is not an issue (as long as the player doesn't get bored)

I know some people do not like my nitpicking, but I'm curious how others design things, I often do actual tests and calculate the values I use based on real world data.

Nitpicking isn't wrong, having a sense for detail is a gift on it's own. Use it wisely and don't forget to think project-wise as well. If you only have a microcosmic view you'll have troubles understanding the macro, and may get bogged down. Setting aside pride can be extremely helpful, and to be content with something that is good but not perfect in your own eyes.

The focus of this project is not towards creating ultimate realism in 3d rendering or game mechanics. I only spend time on it when I believe it can be afforded. Further don't I have the need to compete with others, nor to want the latest tech without counting the cost in the engine; it gives a kind of freedom actually

Regarding the health I should have mentioned that I use health regeneration, so the script updating the postFX is triggered very often, I also prefer the smooth fading in and out of the postFX rather than instant big jumps in intensity. My script also took into account the stamina, so having low health and low stamina would black you out far more than just having low health or low stamina. However it were just some quick experiments I did, I just wondered if you have a better solution.

I had similar experience with using models from somewhere else, it usually takes almost as much time to convert them than to build them yourself, I spend a significant amount of time just with setting up the LOD levels, collisions, shading and wind animations for vegetation and then testing it ingame to see if it works fine and then go back and re-adjust and then test again etc. The worst part of that is when then people blame you for just using pre-made models from others and thinking you just took them and placed them into the game and they worked perfectly out of the box.

The sprinting speed of 9 does not sound so much more, but in fact it is, 8 equals to 28,8 kph and 9 equals to 32,4kph and 8 is already faster than average running speed. Walking speed is 4-6kph, jogging speed is 8-15 kph and sprinting speed is 20-40 kph. Most games however use jogging speed as walking speed, since otherwise the game would get too boring. I use a FOV of 90 which feels most correct, lower than that gives you tunnel vision and higher gives you fisheye vision.